Box Office Update: ‘Before Midnight’ Has Big First Weekend

Box Office Update: 'Before Midnight' Has Big First Weekend

While most box office reports are going on about how “Fast & Furious 6” is headed for a huge Memorial Day weekend (and/or how “The Hangover Part III is not), there’s another notable sequel-related story developing this weekend: Richard Linklater’s “Before Midnight.”

The film — which has received overwhelmingly positive reviews across the board (including from Indiewire) — sees Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke reprise their roles in what they recently joked was “the lowest grossing trilogy ever.” But that might not end up being the case either way, as distributor Sony Pictures Classics reported “Midnight” grossed a strong $273,944 from just 5 theaters New York, Los Angeles and Austin this wekeend.

Those aren’t “Fast & Furious” numbers, but they are impressively ahead of the first weekend of the film’s predecessor, “Before Sunset,” which grossed $219,425 when it opened on July 2, 2004. That’s impressive because “Sunset” was in 20 theaters, 4 times the amount of “Midnight.” The weekend average for “Sunset” was $10,971, while “Midnight” hit $54,789. That is by far a per-theater-average record for the trilogy, and for director Linklater’s entire career. It was also the best of any film this weekend, including “Fast & Furious 6” and “The Hangover Part III.”